Once two men
were caught in middle of an ocean. They stood on a rock for help far away
from the shore. It was dark; Clouds gathered in the sky; Even a sight of
the shore was lost; Waves were lashing on the rock and the ocean got
turbulent. In the darkness, a man appeared before them and said "Come with
me. I shall take you to the shore." The wise man readily accepted the help
and got into the boat. The fool questioned many questions like "How will
you take us across the waters? What happens if the boat is defective? What
happens if the man is a dacoit?". Finally, the wise man safely reached the shore
guided by the boatman. The
fool was quickly swallowed up by the rising waves of the ocean. Similarly,
the Jiva gets blinded by the gathering clouds of materialism and
disharmony gets caught in the ocean of Samsara. The Guru comes to him with
the boat of Lord's name (Bhakthi) and beckons man to follow him to safely
cross over to the shore (immortality). The wise man readily does so but the
fool has a thousand doubts and a million misgivings.
He questions the bonafides of the Guru and validity of Bhakthi. Soon,
the fool was once again
swallowed up in the huge ocean of Samsara and lost the greatest
opportunity of saving himself given to him by God.You will have lasting peace
if you leave everything to Lord's will.

The guru
(spiritual teacher) shows you the guri (goal); but, you must generate the
power yourself by your own saadhana (spiritual effort). Correct your
intellect (buddhi) with the help of your spiritual master who will
counsel, help, command, condemn and standby as friend and well-wisher and
makes you to give up evil propensities and to recognise the straight path
that reach the goal. The
easiest path to self-realisation is the surrender of the ego (sharanaagathi).

The real you
is the Aathma. The seen world has unseen Paramathma as its base.
Do not complain that God is invisible because it is your fault not to
recognise God in all his manifestations. Manas (mind), buddhi (intellect),
chiththam (thought), ahamkaaram (egoism) and indhriya (senses) are like
the bricks, iron rods,cement, wood, etc., that make up a house for the
Aathma to live in. Use your body as vehicle to search, investigate and
discover that base. You can
realise about your “Self” only by constant meditation, by moving in good
company, by listening to the talks of realised men and by following some
prescribed course of discipline.

Do not hold
japam and dhyaanam as the game; hold fast to them.

Offer the
fragrant flowers of your own virtues to the Lord;

Let tears of
joy be the holy water with which you seek to wash the feet of the Lord;

Treat your
upaasana devatha (deity being worshipped) as comprising all forms of
divinity;

Do not argue
one form is less and another is more; all are equally sweet;

Seek to
identify yourself with some grand and glorious entity;

You must help
yourself to satisfy the hunger of the spirit. You are suffering with
infection caused by viruses like kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha
(greed), moha (delusion), madha (pride) and mathsarya (jealousy). These
viruses cause discontent, worry, grief, pain and finally they do not allow
your divinity to shine forth. This ignorance will vanish once you
give up the idea that you are the body.
Do not yield to them. Fight them with faith that you are unconquerable and
brave them by manifesting your inner strength. You are yourself "manifestation of
God." Your real nature is purity, peace and joy.